Members of Parliament and Cigarettes

This article is an opinion piece, and all content and opinions reflect the personal views of the author and do not reflect the editorial stance.

Members of parliament are sometimes like cigarettes. On the packaging, there is always a promise of pleasure.

It is said to be able to calm, warm, and make life feel more exciting.

The advertisements are full of smiles. The language is convincing. The colours are bold. The sentences sound like a cure for all the anxieties of ordinary people.

This is the atmosphere leading up to the election. Banners grow faster than trees.

Smiling faces fill the street corners. Warm greetings are everywhere. Sweet promises can be heard everywhere.

Everything seems to be calming the future of the nation.

The people are invited to believe that after voting for them, life will be better, prices will be lower, job opportunities will be wider, and justice will be closer.

However, like cigarettes, the actual effects are often only felt after prolonged use.

At first, it may seem ordinary. There are no obvious symptoms. But slowly, the cough of democracy begins to appear.

What is seen is a lot of talking, a lot of noise, a lot of interruptions, but it is difficult to catch what is substance and what is just smoke filling the parliamentary chamber.

Sometimes the people watch parliamentary sessions as if they were watching a long chat at a neighbourhood watch post in the middle of the night.

There is coffee, there is enthusiasm, there is debate, but in the end, it goes nowhere.

The difference is that the men at the neighbourhood watch post do not use state facilities and do not spend billions of rupiah of the budget.

The people hope that discussions about education, poverty, food prices, or health will take place seriously.